Do the Mavs beat the Thunder if Casey is still their defensive coach?

Listening to Rick Carlisle after the Mavs are swept, he said some interesting things.

He commented that this years' series against the Thunder is a mirror image of last year. He stated that, last year, 4 games won by the Mavs could of gone either way. This year, 3 games won by the Thunder could have gone either way. In other words, the games were really close.

I'm wondering if Casey was the difference maker. Just one or two more defensive stops at key moments...just a little more tiring out the opponent by making them work harder for buckets....in a tight competition, that added D can be the difference between winning or losing.

Do the Mavs win the series with Casey as assistant coach? Is the series, at least, not a sweep? Or is it just the old guys getting older and KD/Westbrook/Harden coming into their own. Just wondering....

I think so. He was the main reason they won the finals, last year. Aside form the players, themselves. Look what he's done with our roster, this season? Crazy. Dirk even said, himself, that this season they moved backwards, as a franchise, I'm sure. and that was said BEFORE the playoffs for them ended. I'm superhappy that we got him. It was a great find by BC, even if BC isn't here as long as Coach Casey.

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I would say that they Mavs COULD have beat that Thunder if Chandler was still manning the middle. There defense could have stayed largely the same with him as the safety net. Losing Casey was a big blow to the Mavs in terms of defensive adjustments, but losing Chandler is what altered their defensive implementation.

Different significance for each of them, but I would say in terms of on the court that Chandler would have made as big a difference as Casey. Put both of them back on the Mavs and then it may have been possible...at least it would not have been anywhere near a sweep.

Don't mean to be rude, but did you guys actually watch the games? The defense wasn't the problem, it was the offense that stalled. In particular, where last year the Mavs had many players step up and hit big shots down the stretch and contribute to large runs, this year's team saw it's big guns struggle when it mattered.

Lamar Odom is battling depression
Vince Carter shows up when he feels like it
Jason Kidd is half way to 80
Tyson Chandler is defensive player of the year (for another team)
OLD team lockout shortened season...etc...young teams handle it better

Dallas peaked when it should and Cuban set up a team for this year that could compete
but they weren't even a contender from day one

-it's a OLD team and losing their defensive anchor Chandler really hurt
-basically a team in transition, I don't think much was even expected this year, they're gunning for next year.
- the thunder are really really good

Yea, I agree with what everyone said. If this had been a 6 or 7 game series, then you could argue that maybe a few extra smart defensive plays make the difference. But the Mavs were SWEPT. It's not like a couple lucky bounces and they're back in it -- they failed to win a single game in this series.

And there are other things to consider which people have already gone over but I'll add a few:
- hunger is a big factor: Jason Kidd's (and his teammates') motivation used up
- everything Vince Carter touches turns to feces
- everything Delonte West touches turns to poo poo
- everything Yi Jianlian touches turns to diarrhea
- big difference between Tyson Chandler and Brendan Haywood
- no more x-factor (JJ Barea)

Yea, I agree with what everyone said. If this had been a 6 or 7 game series, then you could argue that maybe a few extra smart defensive plays make the difference. But the Mavs were SWEPT. It's not like a couple lucky bounces and they're back in it -- they failed to win a single game in this series.

It was actually a couple of bounces in games 1 & 2 that would have shifted the series entirely.

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